Method for buildi

ABSTRACT

A method of building ships in which predetermined blocks of the hull are fabricated remotely and are transported to dockside at an elevated level. The blocks are displaced to overlie the dock bottom and are rotated downwardly onto a conveyor on the dock bottom and are mounted on the conveyor by means of a buffer plate which is adjustable on the conveyor. The block is then displaced into position adjoining other hull blocks on the dock bottom and is adjusted in position to be united with the other hull blocks by means of the adjustable buffer plate.

United States Patent Maeda [54] METHOD FOR BUILDING SHIPS [72] Inventor:Kazuo Maeda,lchihara,.lapan [73] Assignee: Mitsui Shipbuilding andEngineering Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Dee-14,1970

[21] Appl. No.: 97,817

[52] U.S. Cl. ..ll4/77 R, 29/200 A [51] Int. Cl. ..B63b 3/04 [58] Fieldof Search ..114/77 R, 77 A, 65 R, 56; 214/1 A, 1 Q, 1 OD, 1 06; 9/6;29/200 A, 208 F [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,447,5036/1969 Myers ..114/77 R 3,468,393 9/1969 Harrison ..114/77 R X 3,429,4562/1969 Burgher ..2l4/1 Q 3,374,528 3/1968 Bowcutt et al ..214/1 Q X [451Nov. 21, 1972 3,011,657 12/1961 Schutze et al ..214/1QG PrimaryExaminer-Milton Buchler Assistant Examiner-E. R. KazenskeAttorney-Howson and Howson [5 7] ABSTRACT A method of building ships inwhich predetermined blocks of the hull are fabricated remotely and aretransported to dockside at an elevated level. The blocks are displacedto overlie the dock bottom and are rotated downwardly onto a conveyor onthe dock bottom and are mounted on the conveyor by means of a bufferplate which is adjustable on the conveyor. The block is then displacedinto position adjoining other hull blocks on the dock bottom and isadjusted in position to be united with the other hull blocks by means ofthe adjustable buffer plate.

4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTED W21 I972 SHEET 2 OF 3 METHOD FORBUILDING SHIPS This invention relates to a method for building ships. Asa typical ship building method currently used is a socalled blocksystem. The block becomes larger in size with increase of ship body.Accordingly it is difficult to hoisten and transfer the blocks by thecrane and assemble them into the hull.

It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide amethod which allows building of a ship without hoisting of the blocks.

It is desirable that the block is held in suitable attitude for workingthereof in the steps such as making, transferring and assembling.However, in many cases, such attitude changes at every steps and theblock must be turned before it proceeds into the next step. The methodaccording to the present invention is characterized by the improvedtechniques involving change of such attitude.

The invention will be understood from the following description and theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing a condition in which the shipbuilding is being practiced in a dock, according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing means for transfer or conveyance inthe dock;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the transferring means inoperation;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the block rotatingmeans; and

FIGS. 6 to 8 are front views showing a manner of rotation or turneffected by said block rotating means.

Referring now to FIG. 1, l is a block making framing and rotating meansthereof, which comprises a pair of rotary wheels 2 and 2a connected toeach other by means of connecting members 3. Each of said wheels 2 and2a is constructed by four arcuated members and is rotatably supported bysuitable supporting means not shown. One of the arcuated members of eachrotary wheel is removable from the wheel. Each rotary wheel is hollowedto provide a square or rectangular frame for a block assemblage. Theprincipal parts constituting a block 4 are prepared separately andjoined together into a block within the rotating means. If necessary,the top arcuated member of the rotary wheel is removed to allowinsertion therethrough of the component elements of the block. Forconvenience of its assembling, the block 4 illustrated in FIG. 1 isassembled in the attitude shown in the figure. However, since thisattitude is inconvenient for transfer, the rotary wheels 2 and 2a areturned to let the block take an attitude as indicated by 4a.

Although the block 4a is shown side by side with the original one 4 forthe convenience of illustration, it will be understood that the rotarywheel and the block 4a shown on one side are identical with the originalones.

Then, the block 4 is taken out from the rotating means 1 onto atransferring means comprising a plurality of rollers 5 and transfered byrotation of the rollers to a slide plate 6 provided at an end of a dock11. The block thus placed on said slide plate is securely held at theopposite sides by holding bars 8 of a rotating means 7. The holding bars8 are provided two on each side of the block and are engaged with rotaryshaft 10 so as to be slidable only in the axial direction of the shaft.Thus,

it will be appreciated that the block, securely held by said holdingbars, is moved along the slide plate toward the dock 11 until it reachesan upper level overlying the bottom of the dock, where the rotary shaft10 is turned in the direction of the arrow to allow the block to descendinto the dock with rotating.

At the bottom of the dock are laid a suitable number of longitudinallyextending parallel lines of transfer platforms 12 on each of which arerotatably embedded a plurality of small balls or spherical bodies asshown in FIG. 3, and on each of said platforms are placed a plurality oftravelling pallet 13. As will also be seen, a buffer plate 14 is placedon each travelling pallet. The buffer plate is arranged so as to bemovable either vertically or laterally by a hydraulic means and a blockis placed on the buffer plates. Then the block is carried by thetravelling pallet 13 in the dock to a location where it is assembledinto a ship, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. At this location, the bufferplates 14 are moved vertically and/or laterally so as to correctlyposition the block for joining to the other blocks. The same process isrepeated continuously for assembling and transferring the succeedingblocks, thereby gradually building up a ship.

In FIGS. 5 to 8 there is shown a modiffied rotating means. A suitablenumber of struts 15 are provided in the dock 11, and on the struts 15are supported rotary platforms 16 arranged rotatable in the longitudinaldirection of the dock by means of shafts 17. Connecting between therotary platform 16 and each strut 15 are the links l8, 19 which arecoupled to each other, and connecting between said both links are ahydraulic cylinder 20 and its piston rod 21, with their ends beingconnected to the suitable parts of the respective links. It will also benoted that a plurality of rollers 22 are arranged in juxtaposition oneach rotary platform 16.

As shown in FIG. 5, the block 4 is transferred onto the rollers 22 onthe rotary platforms 16, and then the platforms 16 are revolved byactuation of the hydraulic cylinder 26 as shwon in FIG. '7. It is to benoted that a piston 23 is projected from the dock bottom by a hydraulicmechanism at good time to support and prevent the block from fallingdown. The piston 23 is then gradually moved down synchronized withrotation of the rotary platforms until finally the block is rested onthe dock bottom as shwon in FIG. 8.

While the mechanisms shown and described herein I are of the preferredembodiments, various other modifications in the structure will easilysuggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

As obvious from the foregoing, the present invention eliminates any needof hoisting up the blocks, thus making it possible to dispense with alarge-sized crane as necessitated in the conventional practice and torapidly and easily build up a ship.

What is claimed is;

1. A method of building a ship hull in a dock having a bottom underlyingthe completed hull and an elevated level adjoining said dock bottomcomprising the steps of fabricating a plurality of individual hullblocks remote from said dock, positioning each block on a conveyor in aposition for transfer, transferring said block on the conveyor to thedock at the elevated level thereof, displacing said block to at leastpartially overlie said dock bottom and transferring said block to abottom conveyor on the dock bottom by rotating the block downwardly fromthe upper level, thereafter conveying said block along said dock bottominto position adjoining other hull blocks thereon, and assembling saidblocks in the dock.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said dock bottom conveyor has afixed path and including the step of adjusting the position of saidblock on said bottom conveyor so as to insure proper registry of theblock with the other blocks during said assembly.

3. A method according to claim 1 including the step of providing arotary shaft extending over the dock bottom and said transferringoperation comprises the step P t nt 3,703,153 wf i $972 Invento KAZUOMAEDA It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patentand that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the cover sheet insert [30] FOREIGN PRIORITY DATA December 20, 1969,Japan. .102731/1969 Signed and sealed this 8th day of May 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M .FLETCHER,JR.' ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents USCOMM-DC 6O376-P69 us GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: I96903ss33a.

1. A method of building a ship hull in a dock having a bottom underlyingthe completed hull and an elevated level adjoining said dock bottomcomprising the steps of fabricating a plurality of individual hullblocks remote from said dock, positioning each block on a conveyor in aposition for transfer, transferring said block on the conveyor to thedock at the elevated level thereof, displacing said block to at leastpartially overlie said dock bottom and transferring said block to abottom conveyor on the dock bottom by rotating the block downwardly fromthe upper level, thereafter conveying said bloCk along said dock bottominto position adjoining other hull blocks thereon, and assembling saidblocks in the dock.
 1. A method of building a ship hull in a dock havinga bottom underlying the completed hull and an elevated level adjoiningsaid dock bottom comprising the steps of fabricating a plurality ofindividual hull blocks remote from said dock, positioning each block ona conveyor in a position for transfer, transferring said block on theconveyor to the dock at the elevated level thereof, displacing saidblock to at least partially overlie said dock bottom and transferringsaid block to a bottom conveyor on the dock bottom by rotating the blockdownwardly from the upper level, thereafter conveying said bloCk alongsaid dock bottom into position adjoining other hull blocks thereon, andassembling said blocks in the dock.
 2. A method according to claim 1wherein said dock bottom conveyor has a fixed path and including thestep of adjusting the position of said block on said bottom conveyor soas to insure proper registry of the block with the other blocks duringsaid assembly.
 3. A method according to claim 1 including the step ofproviding a rotary shaft extending over the dock bottom and saidtransferring operation comprises the step of sliding said hull blockaxially of said rotary shaft to overlie said dock bottom, and thenrotating said shaft to thereby rotate said hull block down onto saidbottom conveyor.